Despite our rich histories of accomplishment, one of the complaints that Dr. Smull (Jimmy) and I heard frequently from our research participants is that they can be made to feel invisible in certain social and business settings, not to mention when it comes to advertisements, magazines and the like. And so, there I was enjoying my morning coffee, watching the network morning news and reading the paper (multi-tasking!), when I read a telling quote from CBS Chairman and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves addressing Dan Rather’s retirement and the future of CBS Evening News. Noting that the average age of news viewers among broadcast and cable networks is “way over 45…We have to do something really different to get people’s attention.” Hello! I know that it is in all of our best interests to get people 45 to tune into the news—but if you’re over 45, you’re not “people?”
People over 45 is, in fact, the fastest growing of all consumer segments, a demographic that marketers have identified as the “New Majority.” This segment includes 38 million women born between the years of 1946 and 1964, as well as the segment of educated women currently in their sixties and seventies who identify culturally with this demographic. Recently out of favor with advertisers, this is a demographic that is being newly rediscovered by marketers. As David Wolfe reports in his book Ageless Marketing: “This New Majority has radically changed the rules of marketplace engagement because its members see life through a different lens than young consumers who once determined the rules.” This is the age group that promises to be the sought-after demographic of the future as by 2010, adults 45 and older will outspend younger adults by $2.6 to $1.6 trillion.
So go ahead Moonves, freshen things up—but if you can’t think of us as people, at least remember us as dollars!
Carol Orsborn